Sunday, October 1, 2017

President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind, graced and addressed a function organised to declare urban Maharashtra Open Defecation Free (ODF) today (October 1, 2017) in Mumbai. President Ram Nath Kovind addressed a function held to declare urban Maharashtra open defecation free. Hailing Maharashtra govt for their exemplary work towards cleanliness, President said that, with the declaration of urban Maharashtra open defecation free, almost half of Maharashtra has become open defecation free, since 49 percent population in Maharashtra lives in urban areas. Declaring urban Maharashtra as ODF, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that there is a need to change mind-set towards open defecation. To achieve that goal, the state government has launched ODF Watch, asking people to use toilets and avoid open defecation.

President said that the declaration of 'ODF' Urban Maharashtra is particularly relevant for the state as 49 per cent of Maharashtra’s people live in urban areas. ‘Smart Cities’, he said, also require ‘Smart Sanitation’ and ‘Smart Waste Management’. The President added that it was a matter of great satisfaction that the Government is focusing on sustainability of this successful campaign. The ‘OD Watch’ monitoring will be useful in alerting people and helping them quit old habits and not relapsing to open defecation. He hoped that just as the state has been successful in realising the goal of 'ODF', it would also realise the goal of 'Managing 100 per cent Waste'. The President said that tomorrow is Gandhi Jayanti and Maharashtra has paid a befitting tribute to Gandhiji by declaring urban Maharashtra Open Defecation Free today.

Narayan Rane today floated his own political outfit in the name of the Maharashtra Swabhiman Party. He had resigned from the Congress and the Maharashtra Legislative Council on 21st September. At a press conference held in Mumbai, Mr. Rane said his party will work relentlessly for the upliftment of the farmers, women, downtrodden and backward classes. Mr. Rane started off with the Shiv Sena and went on to become the revenue minister and then briefly the chief minister. He then became the leader of Opposition.

President Ramnath Kovind inaugurated the Shirdi airport in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra on 1st October 2017. The President also flagged off the inaugural flight of Alliance Air from Shirdi to Mumbai. The flight will take around 45 minutes. Besides Alliance Air, two other Airlines will be operating flights between Mumbai and Shirdi. The airport will initially have four flights to Mumbai and one each from Delhi and Hyderabad. After inauguration, the President said, this infrastructure development will create new employment opportunities.

President also inaugurated the Centenary Celebrations of Samadhi of Shri Saibaba at the famous Sai Mandir at Shirdi. The President also attended a function in Mumbai where Urban Maharashtra was declared as open defecation free.

These products will be made available with the help of mobile vans all over Mumbai and the information about the location of the vans is made available through an app. This app was also launched by the Chief Minister.

Wednesday, August 2, 2017

Maharashtra government is planning to relocate tigers from Vidarbha region to the sanctuaries elsewhere where their population is smaller, including the Sahyadri Tiger Reserve (STR). State forest minister Sudhir Mungantiwar told the Legislative Assembly that the government had set up a committee to examine this issue, and a decision will be taken based on its recommendations.

The STR, located in the Sahyadri ranges in western Maharashtra, has only seven tigers at present. The forest minister said that the government is considering relocating the tigers in sanctuaries in Vidarbha to other places. He informed house that the government has set up a committee to examine trans-location proposal. It will also consult experts from the Centre and submit its report in 2-3 months. He also said that most deaths of tigers happen due to territorial fights owing to over-population.